Lesson #1: People still die in a Cirrus.

Sad, but true. Flying involves risks. Some risks involve fatal accidents.

But this third annual review reflects the challenge of promoting safety in a growing population of Cirrus pilots, more of whom have not received factory transition training.

WHAT TO DO? Commit to flying safely. Participate in COPA safety programs. Read Cirrus Pilot and learn.

Lesson #2: COPA members have fewer fatal accidents.

COPA members demonstrate an astoundingly better accident rate than non-members. Only 20 percent of Cirrus fatal accidents involve COPA members, yet more than 40 percent of Cirrus pilots are COPA members and more than 40 percent of Cirrus airplanes are flown by COPA members. That's significant.

COPA membership is not a causal factor, so don't join and expect that alone will keep you safe. Lack of partici­pation in COPA appears to correlate with an increased chance of being involved in a fatal accident. Membership does have its benefits!

WHAT TO DO? Participate in COPA safety events. Encourage other Cirrus pilots to participate in COPA safety programs. Help them understand the risks.

Lesson #3: COPA members use the CAPS parachute.

Looking at activations of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), COPA members are represented slightly more than their proportion in the Cirrus pilot population.

Taken together, the fatal accident and parachute activation observations reveal that COPA members avoid fatal accidents and use the parachute to survive. Read on to better understand some of the reasons.

WHAT TO DO? Review emergency procedures and decide for yourself when you have lost control and need to activate CAPS. Practice in a simulator.

Lesson #4: Don't blame the airplane; it's us, the pilots.

Overwhelmingly, Cirrus fatal accidents involve pilot factors. All but one of the 37 probable causes determined by NTSB accident investigations lists pilot causes. The Greenland ferry accident was the only mechanical cause, when the engine failed due to oil loss and the pilot drowned after ditching.

Cirrus fatal accidents are caused by pilot actions. Change those actions and we, the pilots, can reduce the fatal accident rate.

WHAT TO DO? Commit to flying safely. Participate in COPA safety programs, especially the scenario-based decision-making programs at CPPP and CDM seminars.

Lesson #5: Experience is not enough.

Surprisingly, high-time pilots are involved in three-quarters of the Cirrus fatal accidents. Critics of Cirrus Design often complain about the marketing to newbie pilots. You would expect a rash of accidents involving low-time pilots. Not so.

Pilots with more than 400 hours total time were involved in 33 of 44 fatal accidents where pilot experience has been reported.That level of experience usually comes from several years of flying. Yet, that experience did not keep them out of trouble.

Interestingly, only two pilots in a Cirrus fatal accident had less than 150 hours total time. One was Cory Lidle, who had an instructor in the right seat during the accident. The other was near Cherbourg, France under unknown circumstances.

Unfortunately, we do not know the proportion of Cirrus pilots with high or low experience. We only know the number of pilots in fatal accidents.Therefore,we can not determine a rate to see if pilots with low experience have a greater rate of accidents than those with high experience.This will change with the addition of Cirrus airplanes to flight training schools for primary flight instruction, and we observe that the pool of new pilots learning to fly in a Cirrus is growing.

Furthermore, pilots with instrument, commercial and instructor certificates were involved in three-quarters of all Cirrus fatal accidents where the pilot ratings were reported.

Additional ratings usually indicate higher levels of skill and judg­ment, but still, these pilots found themselves in situations that they did not handle safely.

WHAT TO DO? Cirrus pilots must recognize the challenge of trans­itioning to an SR2X airplane. Ensure that your training matches your missions, especially if your new missions do not match your experience.

Lesson #6: Respect your lack of experience in an SR2X.

Almost every pilot knows that low time-in-type represents a greater risk until you gain experience with the new airplane. Cirrus SR2X airplanes are no different.

About half of the fatal accident pilots for which we know their time-in-type had less than 150 hours in an SR2X. Three fatal Cirrus accidents occurred during training: one during transition training, another in the primary training of an experienced helicopter pilot, and a recent one in airline pilot training.

WHAT TO DO? Be cautious. Learn about personal minimums by attending a Critical Decision Making seminar. Adjust those minimums for your experience flying an SR2X airplane.

Lesson #7: Weather is a huge factor in Cirrus accidents.

Cirrus airplanes are great cross-country travelers and many Cirrus pilots make the most of those capabilities.As you fly longer distances, you are exposed to different weather systems, as well as greater variability from your preflight forecasts, as you fly for longer times. Cirrus pilots must be prepared to handle the challenges of weather and in some cases they haven't.

A majority of Cirrus fatal accidents involve bad weather (IMC), including low ceilings, fog, icing and thunderstorms. Failing to under­stand weather systems, failing to obtain updated weather briefings, lacking weather-in-the-cockpit, and especially poor in-flight decision-making are all factors implicated in these accident reports.

Furthermore, a large number (two-thirds), of Cirrus fatal accidents were flown under visual flight rules (VFR), where the pilots are respon­sible for their own terrain clearance, their own navigation and their own decisions. Only one-third were flown under instrument flight rules (IFR).

Combine the bad weather factor with the choice of flight rules factor and we see a recipe for disaster, especially visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions.

The number of VFR-into-IMC accidents suggests that the increased situational awareness in a Cirrus SR2X was not sufficient to help those accident pilots escape bad weather encounters. The IFR-in-IMC accidents suggest a lack of proficiency with flying in challenging weather.

Weather is a huge factor for Cirrus pilots.

WHAT TO DO? Learn about weather. Attend a CPPP ground session on weather. Take an aviation weather course. Learn about personal minimums at a COPA CDM seminar.

When you encounter IMC while flying VFR, get out! Practice avoidance maneuvers, like using the autopilot to make a 180-degree turn. Recognize "get-there-itis" and overcome the desire to persist in worsening weather conditions.

Lesson #8: Landing a Cirrus can be fatal.

Several recent accidents involved landing maneu­vers. Without the NTSB probable cause reports, we don't know enough about the accident chains. What we do know is that six of 14 accidents in the past year were on approach, executing a missed approach, or landing.

In addition, there have been several airplanes badly damaged during high-speed landings, balked landings, porpoising, and off-runway excursions.

WHAT TO DO? Get proficient! Once you take off, you need to be prepared for weather that might challenge you at your destination. Gusty winds? Low ceilings? Missed approaches? Practice with an instructor to improve competence and confidence. If you don't feel prepared when it comes time to land, go somewhere with better weather.

Lesson #9: Many Cirrus fatal accidents compare to CAPS pulls.

When you compare the successful CAPS pulls to the 55 fatal accident scenarios, you find remarkable similar­ities. My estimation is that over half of the fatal accidents had a high or good probability of success if the pilot would have pulled the CAPS handle. Overall, 15 had a high probability, and another 15 had a good probability, with 19 a low probability and 6 not yet determined.

WHAT TO DO? Prepare yourself to use CAPS. Practice using simulator training. Read the articles in this safety issue.

Lesson #10: CAPS works! It's yours! Plan Ahead! You are worth it! Your ego and airplane are not!

Just telling yourself, or others, that you will use CAPS is not enough. Think through the scenarios that have happened to other Cirrus pilots where using CAPS turned a very difficult situation into a survivable one. Decide for yourself. Then practice using CAPS. Overcome the tendency to practice other recovery techniques to the exclusion of a CAPS pull.

Be prepared. That is the most important lesson from the Cirrus accident history.

Know yourself as a pilot - your skills, your knowledge, your proficiency.With preparation, personal minimums, and practiced aeronautical decision-making, you may never need to use the ultimate safety device: CAPS.